Abu Dhabi consolidates real estate assets under $12 bln firm Q Holding

Abu Dhabi is consolidating key real estate assets under one entity, creating a $12 billion property giant to help bolster the emirate’s economic transformation efforts.

As part of the deal, sovereign wealth fund ADQ and the emirate’s most valuable listed firm, International Holding Co., will combine their shareholdings in Modon Properties as well as ADQ’s stake in Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Co. into real estate firm Q Holding.

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Q Holding will issue instruments convertible into 9.49 billion shares to ADQ and IHC at a fixed price of 2.70 dirhams per share, valuing the company at 18.5 billion dirhams ($5.04 billion), the firms said.

The combined group will have an implied market value of about $12 billion, making it one of the largest such entities in the region. The firm will have a portfolio of real estate developments, venues, land plots and hospitality assets.

ADQ and IHC have been at the forefront of a drive to diversify the economy of the United Arab Emirates away from oil. Wednesday’s offer is an opportunity to create an “Abu Dhabi champion that fuels its ambitions,” ADQ Chief Executive Officer Mohamed Alsu-waidi said in a statement.

Shares in Q Holding, which counts IHC and its unit Alpha Dhabi as its biggest investors, jumped 15 percent to 2.97 dirhams on Wednesday. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’s national security adviser, oversees both IHC and ADQ.

Following completion, ADQ will own 38.7 percent of Q Holding, while IHC Capital will hold a 19.4 percent stake.

Read more: Abu Dhabi’s $829 billion wealth fund is pushing deeper into the US, real estate